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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-09-22 Daily Xml
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Ministerial Statement

COOPER CREEK

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:31): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: The Lake Eyre Basin is a truly unique natural asset. Encompassing an area that is about one-sixth the area of Australia, it extends across the south-east of the Northern Territory, south-west of Queensland and the north-east of South Australia. It contains wetlands and ecosystems of international importance, including the Ramsar-listed Coongie Lakes, and is a temporary home for migratory birds across the world, including (from my memory) from Siberia.

The unpolluted water of the Cooper Creek is one of the world's largest unregulated rivers. As many members would know (such as the member for Stuart), the environment of the basin is characterised by dramatic 'boom and bust' cycles.

The Hon. I.F. EVANS: I rise on a point of order, Mr Speaker. There is a notice of motion from the member for Stuart for Thursday 24 September relating to the Cooper Creek and the Queensland government's treatment thereof, and I seek a ruling as to whether this goes to debate.

The SPEAKER: I will listen to what the Premier says. The Premier cannot use a ministerial statement to pre-empt debate on Notice of Motion No. 1 to be moved by the member for Stuart. Listening to the Premier, I do not think that he has until now. I will listen and, if I think he is pre-empting debate, I will pull up the Premier.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Certainly, there is no intention of that, as I know the member for Stuart would know. Indeed, this is important because it involves actions taken this day by the Minister for Environment and Conservation, in terms of communications to federal colleagues.

In a harsh and dry landscape, the region is transformed when the rivers that feed the basin flood huge tracts of land and ecosystems burst into life. We have seen this spectacular environmental event unfold over recent months as tens of thousands of birds, fish and plants took advantage of the floods to live and breed around Lake Eyre.

South Australia supports the protection of the region's sensitive ecology through its participation in the Lake Eyre Basin Ministerial Forum, which also draws its membership from the Queensland, Northern Territory and Australian governments as well as the South Australian government.

On 26 August this year, the Minister for Environment and Conservation announced that the state government would be developing a Far North Initiative as part of the state NRM program and that this would address Lake Eyre Basin management issues. However, the explosion of life that we have witnessed recently in the basin is largely reliant upon floodwaters that originate in rivers outside our state, including the Cooper Creek system that is managed by the Queensland government. I do not need to remind any member of this house what the Australian constitution says about rivers.

With the Cooper Creek Water Resource Plan under review and the potential for dormant or sleeper licences that would permit large-scale irrigation to be reactivated, the state government has monitored the Queensland government's actions closely to ensure that downstream users and the environment are not deprived of water. These floodwaters are vital, as they sustain a relative handful of isolated waterholes during dry periods which, in turn, provide a refuge for life to regenerate rapidly when floods come again.

Our concerns were first raised in October last year, when the South Australian government made a submission to the Queensland government warning that these dormant licences represented a significant risk to the achievement of environmental objectives. Since then, nine eminent scientists have written to the Queensland government detailing their concerns with the plan review process, and both the minister and I have urged the Queensland government not to permit the further extraction of water from the Cooper Creek until there has been an independent scientific review of Queensland's plans. Unfortunately, the response so far from the Queensland government gives us no comfort. Queensland's revised Cooper Creek Water Resource Plan will set out future water allocations from the Cooper Creek.

The South Australian government is calling for an emergency meeting of the commonwealth and state governments to stop Queensland from pressing ahead with any proposal to reactivate dormant water licences in the Cooper Creek. The licences were originally allocated for cotton industry development in the Cooper Creek, which could take billions of litres of water from the system. While the Queensland government intends to release its plan as early as next month for public comment, we are saying that by that time it may be too late to stop large-scale water extraction from going ahead.

South Australia and Queensland have worked together with other members of the Lake Eyre Basin Ministerial Forum on a rivers assessment of the rivers in the Lake Eyre Basin. This assessment was released last year and showed that key threats to the Cooper Creek were inappropriate resource use, invasive pests and land use intensification. South Australians know only too well the damage that over-extraction by upstream states has done to the iconic River Murray decade after decade after decade.

Mr GRIFFITHS: Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I respect the intent of the Premier, but the notice of motion provided by the member for Stuart is quite specific.

The Hon. P.F. Conlon interjecting:

Mr GRIFFITHS: I just want to seek clarification from the Speaker.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The house will come to order! The Premier should not be constrained from making a statement to the house in an entirely appropriate way about actions that the government is taking, or be prevented from doing so essentially on a technicality.

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! That would seem to me to be a ridiculous and overly rigorous interpretation of the standing orders. I think the standing order with regard to pre-empting debate would apply if in a direct way the Premier was seeking to engage in debate on the member for Stuart's motion. I do not think the rule of pre-emption should prevent the Premier from saying anything about that subject simply because there is a notice of motion. That would not really make any sense. I think the common-sense approach is that the Premier is giving a ministerial statement on a subject which is current and which no doubt is of interest to the house, and to prevent him from doing so because of a technicality would be silly.

As long as the Premier does not directly attempt to debate Notice of Motion No. 1 on 24 September, he is free to give his ministerial statement, albeit that the subject of the ministerial statement and the motion overlap.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: If we stood by and allowed irrigators to begin using the Cooper Creek in the same way that we have seen the River Murray being exploited by upstream states not only would it be like déjà vu but most Australians would believe that once again we were seeing the fact that the health of a river can be judged by the end of the river. I think that people would be outraged at this degradation.

The state government has an obligation to act now without hesitation and take whatever steps are available to it to protect the Cooper, which is regarded, including by the Queensland Premier, as one of our remaining pristine rivers.

A number of those here, including the former environment minister and the member for Stuart and some journalists who attended a news conference today, if my memory serves me correctly, would recall standing on the shores of the Coongie Lakes at dawn on the morning of 10 June 2005, when we declared the Coongie Lakes a national park. This mosaic of lakes is one of Australia's most spectacular natural attractions—fed by the Cooper Creek. I know that the member behind me is in furious agreement. The member for Giles is a great supporter of the Coongie Lakes.

The freshwater lakes support a range of wildlife, including hundreds of waterbirds, fish, frog and plant species. The lakes are Ramsar listed, meaning that they are regarded internationally as important to migratory waterbirds. The national park covers an area of 26,600 hectares and today excludes all mining and cattle grazing, while a 87,740 hectare buffer surrounding the park has been closed to mining and petroleum access. People will remember the agreement reached by the former minister for environment and I with Santos Ltd and its former CEO, John Ellice-Flint, to achieve this.

The declaration of the Coongie Lakes National Park was a symbol of what can be achieved when government, industry, local communities and green groups come together for our environment. I am very pleased to get bipartisan support from the other side, including from the former minister for the environment and former leader of the opposition, who is sitting on the front bench.

All we are doing today is saying that we must again come together, as we did then, to save the Cooper Creek and preserve this last wild river from the potential ravages of inappropriate industry and activity. I look forward to all members of this house supporting us in a fight to save the Cooper Creek and the Coongie Lakes, remembering what impact the diversion of billions of litres could have on Innamincka and its town supply and, indeed, on an organic beef industry that is worth $100 million to this state.

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